>> president obama and mitt romney duke it out over the economy in the first debate of three. good evening. i'm dan ashley. >> and i'm carolyn johnson. a particularly strong showing from mitt romney tonight on key topics ranging from the economy to health care. >> abc7 news political reporter mark matthews is here with a look at this first big match up. >> no knockout punches tonight, nothing we will see over and over again on television, but mitt romney did what he needed to do. mitt romney ran to the middle saying lowering the tax rates for wealthy americans would not lower the amount of taxes they pay. >> my view is we should provide tax relief to those in the middle class. but i am not going to reduce the share of taxes paid by high income people. >> romney said he would close tax loopholes and limit the de tucks -- deductions to the risk. >> it is knot possible to come up with enough deductions and loopholes that only affect high income individuals to either avoid raising the deficit or burdennenning the middle class. it is math. it is arithmetic. >> on health care -- >>